1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light detecting device such as an ultraviolet ray detecting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, industrial instruments using ultraviolet rays have been spread in many devices such as color image outputting devices, ozone generating devices and semiconductor fabricating devices, and many fields such as printing, painting and optical shaping fields. In order to measure ultraviolet rays, a semiconductor light receiving element is used.
As the semiconductor light receiving element, an element made of a semiconductor which absorbs no visible light, such as an element made of a gallium nitride type semiconductor or an oxide type semiconductor, is suggested. About the nitride type semiconductor, an ultraviolet ray receiving element made of polycrystal gallium nitride and formed on a transparent conductive glass substrate has been made practicable. Generally, when semiconductor elements, which are initially fabricated as semiconductor chips, are used as light receiving elements, the semiconductor elements are integrated into a plastic or ceramic package, or a protective layer is formed on the elements.
These light receiving elements have, as output terminals from the elements, pins made of a metal line or plate-form terminal electrodes, and the output terminals are used to mount the light receiving elements on a circuit or an amplifier. Thus, under the present situation, surface mounting technique cannot be applied to these light receiving elements.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2001-210856 proposes a thin ultraviolet ray detecting device in which a light receiving element is fixed onto a protecting member with an epoxy adhesive agent. However, as its output terminals, terminals having lines or rod-like electrodes are used. Thus, surface mounting technique cannot be applied to the detecting device.
In order to use a greater number of these light receiving elements in automatic machines as electronic instruments have been made smaller in recent years, it has been desired that the light receiving elements are in an element form which can cope with surface mounting technique. Improvement for attaining such a desire has been expected.
Accordingly, the invention overcomes the above-mentioned problems in the prior art and attains the following object. That is, an object of the invention is to provide a light detecting device which can stably be surface-mounted on, for example, a circuit board. Another object of the invention is to provide a method for mounting the same.